{"id":11535,"date":"2021-05-10T17:17:18","date_gmt":"2021-05-10T17:17:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mobballet.org\/?p=11535"},"modified":"2025-04-21T07:16:24","modified_gmt":"2025-04-21T07:16:24","slug":"keith-saunders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mobballet.org\/index.php\/2021\/05\/10\/keith-saunders\/","title":{"rendered":"Keith Saunders"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2 data-block-id=\"block-91116075-2405-4e3a-8c6d-092178a80b99\"><strong>Keith Saunders<\/strong><\/h2>\n<h2 data-block-id=\"block-556c2226-9f09-4d9d-968a-850369ea1458\"><strong>Dance Theatre of Harlem ( 1975-1985, 1989-2018)<\/strong><\/h2>\n<div data-block-id=\"block-a85ad3e8-f920-4ef5-8da9-561469f0513e\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"ql-img alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/t8541063.p.clickup-attachments.com\/t8541063\/f8f3059a-e96a-4c6c-b289-0d4680ef3323\/image.png\" data-id=\"f8f3059a-e96a-4c6c-b289-0d4680ef3323.png\" \/>Baltimore-native Keith Saunders started his dance career at a late stage; when he began his education at Harvard, Saunders encountered Afro-American dance classes, left the school, and dedicated himself to dance. He then joined a company in Boston before his tenure as a company member at Dance Theatre of Harlem, which lasted over 20 years, from 1975-1996. Saunders appeared in the original DTH casts of Robert North\u2019s <em>Troy Game<\/em> (1978), Carlos Carvajal\u2019s <em>Shapes of Everything<\/em> (1978) and<em> Secret Silence <\/em>(1979), Choo San Goh\u2019s <em>Variations Serieuses<\/em> (1978), George Balanchine\u2019s <em>The Four Temperaments<\/em> (1979) and <em>The Prodigal Son<\/em> (1995), <a href=\"https:\/\/mobballet.org\/index.php\/2020\/12\/10\/carmen-de-lavallade\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Carmen de Lavallade<\/a>\u2019s <em>Sensemaya<\/em> (1979), <a href=\"https:\/\/mobballet.org\/index.php\/2021\/01\/21\/frederic-franklin-and-arthur-mitchell-dance-theatre-of-harlem\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Frederick Franklin<\/a>\u2019s Act II of <em>Swan Lake<\/em> (1980), Marius Petipa\u2019s <em>Pas de Dix<\/em> from <em>Raymonda<\/em> Act III (1983), Bronislava Nijinska\u2019s <em>Les Biches<\/em> (1983), David Lichine\u2019s <em>Graduation Ball<\/em> (1983), Agnes de Mille\u2019s <em>Fall River Legend <\/em>(1983), David Gordon\u2019s <em>Piano Movers <\/em>(1985), Michael Smuin\u2019s <em>A Song for Dead Warriors <\/em>(1993), Alvin Ailey\u2019s<em> The River<\/em> (1993), and <a href=\"https:\/\/mobballet.org\/index.php\/2017\/04\/29\/robert-garland\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Robert Garland<\/a>\u2019s <em>The Joplin Dances <\/em>(1995).<\/div>\n<div data-block-id=\"block-70efeb40-33ac-43ca-a85d-2ce4e9707c69\">Saunders then served as assistant ballet master of the company starting in 1994, became ballet master in 1996, and acted as the director of the DTH Ensemble from 2004 to 2012.<\/div>\n<div data-block-id=\"block-2fe0a627-6d4f-4179-8d76-88c372c94511\">He received his MFA in dance from Hollins University in 2017 and has taught at the BalletMet Dance Academy, Ballet Tech, DTH School, University of Wyoming, Snowy Range Dance Festival, Steps on Broadway, and the 92nd Street Y.<\/div>\n<div data-block-id=\"block-523c9d02-953a-4651-8f59-a4c660f4c1d1\">Since 2018, Saunders has worked as an assistant professor at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas. He has presented on Arthur Mitchell and DTH twice at professional conferences.<\/div>\n<div data-block-id=\"block-cda49b41-b147-4534-a67c-e7349b682242\">\n<figure style=\"width: 1200px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"ql-img\" src=\"https:\/\/t8541063.p.clickup-attachments.com\/t8541063\/318759ec-efa3-481d-9e5b-746962dae6df\/image.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"955\" data-id=\"318759ec-efa3-481d-9e5b-746962dae6df.png\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Keith Saunders and <a href=\"https:\/\/mobballet.org\/index.php\/2017\/06\/07\/lorraine-graves\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Lorraine Graves<\/a> in <em>Holberg Suite<\/em>, Marbeth, 1979.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<div data-block-id=\"block-c58464fb-6cbe-4847-86fd-98895aedb2c9\">\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/q2pJJmgSidk\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>Sources:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a class=\"ql-link\" href=\"http:\/\/www.corps-de-ballet.org\/guest-artists\/keith-saunders\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Keith Saunders, Corps de Ballet International<\/a><br \/>\n<a class=\"ql-link\" href=\"https:\/\/finearts.tcu.edu\/faculty_staff\/keith-saunders\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Keith Saunders, Texas Christian University<\/a><br \/>\n<a class=\"ql-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.baltimoremagazine.com\/section\/artsentertainment\/q-a-with-keith-saunders\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Q&amp;A with Keith Saunders, Baltimore Magazine<\/a><br \/>\n<a class=\"ql-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.broadwayworld.com\/houston\/article\/BWW-Interviews-DTHs-Dance-Master-Keith-Saunders-Talks-Ballet-and-The-Legacy-of-Harlem-20140728\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">BWW Interviews: DTH\u2019s Dance Master Keith Saunders Talks Ballet and The Legacy of Harlem, Broadway World<\/a><br \/>\n<a class=\"ql-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dance-enthusiast.com\/features\/day-in-the-life\/view\/DTH-45-Years\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Dance Up Close to The Dance Theatre of Harlem, Dance Enthusiast<\/a><br \/>\n<a class=\"ql-link\" href=\"https:\/\/exhibitions.library.columbia.edu\/exhibits\/show\/mitchell\/dance-theatre-of-harlem--compa\/repertory-list\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Repertory List, Columbia University Libraries<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Video links:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a class=\"ql-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=yH5y1s7eK5E\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Snowy Range Summer Dance Festival: Keith Saunders<\/a><br \/>\n<a class=\"ql-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=gESCDC9uYXA\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Dance Theatre of Harlem Master Class @ DTHuntsville<\/a><br \/>\n<a class=\"ql-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=3h363f5Xr2E\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Mayerson Master Artists Series: Dance Theatre of Harlem<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Social media:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>LinkedIn <a class=\"ql-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/keith-saunders-294b0521\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Keith Saunders<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Keith Saunders Dance Theatre of Harlem ( 1975-1985, 1989-2018) Baltimore-native Keith Saunders started his dance career at a late stage; when he [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11535","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dancers"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mobballet.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11535","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mobballet.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mobballet.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mobballet.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mobballet.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11535"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/mobballet.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11535\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15889,"href":"https:\/\/mobballet.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11535\/revisions\/15889"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mobballet.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11535"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mobballet.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11535"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mobballet.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11535"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}